CATALONIA --- Puigdemont to call for a referendum in September 2017 if Spain doesn’t allow Catalans to vote | VilaWeb
Puigdemont to call for a referendum in September 2017 if Spain doesn’t allow Catalans to vote
'It’s either referendum or referendum', he stated before the
Parliament during the first phase of the vote of confidence
Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, emphasised the Government’s
will to culminate Catalonia’s pro-independence by holding a binding
referendum. ‘It’s either referendum or referendum’, he stated before the
Parliament during the first phase of the vote of confidence and
forecasted that the vote will take place ‘on the second fortnight of
September’. According to Puigdemont, the offer to hold an agreed
referendum with Spain on Catalonia’s independence ‘doesn’t expire but
won’t paralyse us either’. The Catalan President called to start ‘a
chain of confidence which will not end tomorrow [when the vote of
confidence will take place] but continue until Catalonia becomes an
independent country’. ‘I hope that in the moments of maximum discrepancy
we will be loyal to the Catalans’ mandate’, he stated indirectly
addressing radical left pro-independence CUP. In this vein, he warned
those who won’t support the budget for 2017 not to support him and
‘avoid further wastes of time’.
Puigdemont assured that ‘there is a new opportunity for the Spanish
State to recognise Catalonia and overcome this deadlock’ an insisted on
his will to ‘discuss on the date, the question and the required
results’. However, he also warned that if this option doesn’t get
through, he will ‘entrust Catalan Vice President, Oriol Junqueras and
Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Transparency and Participation,
Raül Romeva, to start designing the referendum’. Thus, Puigdemont made
clear that the Government’s will to collaborate with the Spanish state
continues but ‘the commitment with the Catalans’ mandate emerged from
the 27-S elections and with this term of office timings continues’.
‘This is an offer which doesn’t expire but won’t paralyse us either’.
However, Puigdemont warned that before calling for a referendum it is
necessary ‘to overcome the hurdle of confidence’ otherwise he will
‘call for new elections’.
